POTTSTOWN — After more than 12 hours of standing off with officials, a Pottstown man who was holed up in a Logan Street apartment was brought out in a state of undress, bleeding from a gunshot wound, by SWAT team members.

The man, identified by officials as Albert J. Dudanowicz Jr., 56, who lived in apartment B104 of the Logan Court Apartments, was immediately loaded into a Goodwill Ambulance and transported to Reading Hospital and Medical Center, according to sources.

Police and members of the ChesMont Emergency Response Team, or CMERT, brought the man out in complete darkness, and only once he was in the street did flashlights illuminate his silhouette, revealing he was standing barefoot with little or no clothing on, with blood on his chest.

Police Chief Mark Flanders confirmed Dudanowicz began shooting at officers from inside his apartment at 2:37 p.m. In response, Flanders confirmed, a CMERT marksman fired back “in defense of his fellow officers,” and Dudanowicz retreated into his apartment.

Minutes before SWAT team members breached the building the final time around 7:30 p.m. and brought Dudanowicz out, there were reports a fire had sparked inside the apartment where Dudanowicz was. Officials put the fire out using extinguishers and were able to make contact with Dudanowicz.

Flanders confirmed no officers or members of the public were struck by the gunfire when Dudanowicz fired the shots from his apartment.

Police and SWAT team members were at the scene for a combined 12 1/2 hours after a call for a disturbance at the apartments early Thursday, as confirmed by Flanders.

Flanders said officers responded to the complex in the 700 block of Logan Street around 7 a.m. Thursday for a report of someone creating a lot of noise and slamming doors. While investigating the incident, the officers heard a gunshot in the complex.

More officers were called to the scene and around 8 a.m. residents of the apartment complex were told to get inside and stay there as police searched the buildings for the source of the gunshots.

Juli Burke, a resident of the complex along with her 8-year-old son, was in the parking lot of her building, clearing the snow off her car as she prepared to take her son to school then head to work when, as she walked back into her apartment, “I heard a man yelling at me to ‘Get inside. Get into your home.’ It’s not easy to run in heels.”

Burke said she called her landlady the minute she was safely in her home and was told an irate resident in another building had fired a shot at the door of a maintenance manager. Police could not immediately confirm that information.

During the conversation with Burke, police could be heard in the background yelling for people to get indoors and stay out of the area.

“I am very concerned for my son. He was upset because he can’t go to school,” said Burke, who was evacuated from her apartment with her son several hours later.

Around 11 a.m. another resident, David Johnston, caught police on video near one of the apartment units calling out to a man named Albert and saying “Come out of your apartment with your hands up, unarmed.”

The appeals to “Albert” and “A.J” continued throughout the day while police slowly evacuated nearby apartments and residents stayed inside in fear. The CMERT team was called out to assist at the scene as was the Montgomery County Bomb Squad.

The Pottstown School District, which had been alerted to the situation by Police Chief Mark Flanders, determined which students lived in the apartment complex and along the nearby streets of Wilson, Airy and Spruce and decided to keep those students at school after dismissal until their parents could pick them up.

John Armato, director of community relations for the school district, said parents of middle school and high school age students could give permission over the phone if they wanted their children to walk home or take another means of transportation, but elementary students would have to be picked up by a parent or guardian.

Around 2 p.m., law enforcement began concentrating on one specific apartment and deployed a flashbang grenade to stun whoever was inside. The bomb squad sent a robot with a camera into the residence. Shortly afterward, a reporter at the scene heard sounds resembling gunshots. There were five consecutive bangs followed by a single shot roughly ten seconds later.

Around 5 p.m. gas canisters were thrown through the damaged sliding glass door of the first-floor apartment, but this also had no effect on the person or persons inside, according to witnesses at the scene.

About a dozen residents displaced from the apartments ended up at North End Fire Company. By 5 p.m., however, everyone had left to stay with friends or family for the duration of the disturbance. There was no word on the total number of people displaced, but neither the American Red Cross nor the Salvation Army were contacted to help shelter anyone during the incident. Sources said everyone found a place to stay during the incident.

Light towers were brought in as sunset approached. Wilson Street was also shut down around 5 p.m. between Spruce and Hanover streets to control the amount of traffic traveling near the scene during rush hour. This stretch of Wilson Street is also where officials set up a command post and where a canteen truck was later stationed.

The use of lights in the area was highly disciplined. According to those at the scene, police cars kept all lights off as they left the scene. Only one light was kept on the apartment until the CMERT team entered, when it, too, was shut off.

The airspace above the scene was closed in an approximate two mile radius, as well.

During the early evening, members of the CMERT team that had been on the scene were being changed out for a fresh team.

Police reportedly were able to contact the suspect at 6:07 p.m.

Around 7:25 p.m. a CMERT team entered the residence and took the suspect into custody. He emerged from the apartment bloodied but walking under his own power.

The stand-off occurred around apartment B104, according to police sources.

According to the white pages, the person listed as living in apartment B104 is named Albert J. Dudanowicz.

Sources said Dudanowicz was bleeding earlier from a possible gunshot wound.

A reporter heard sounds that resembled gunshots around 2:30 p.m. Five consecutive sounds were heard, followed by one ten seconds later, around the time that a robot was sent into the premises by the county bomb squad.

EARLIER VERSION

POTTSTOWN — A call for a disturbance early Thursday at the Logan Court apartment complex resulted in a more than 12-hour police response and standoff with a resident.

According to borough police, officers had responded to the complex in the 700 block of Logan Street around 7 a.m. Thursday for a report of someone creating a lot of noise and slamming doors, but while investigating the incident, the officers heard a gunshot in the area.

More officers were called to the scene and around 8 a.m. residents of the apartment complex were told to get inside and stay there as police searched the buildings for the source of the gunshots.

Juli Burke, a resident of the complex along with her 8-year-old son, was in the parking lot of her building, clearing the snow off her car as she prepared to take her son to school then head to work when, as she walked back into her apartment, “I heard a man yelling at me to ‘Get inside. Get into your home.’ It’s not easy to run in heels.”

Burke said she called her landlady the minute she was safely in her home and was told an irate resident in another building had fired a shot at the door of a maintenance manager. Police could not immediately confirm that information.

During the conversation with Burke, police could be heard in the background yelling for people to get indoors and stay out of the area.

“I am very concerned for my son. He was upset because he can’t go to school,” said Burke, who was evacuated from her apartment with her son several hours later.

Around 11 a.m. another resident, David Johnston, caught police on video near one of the apartment units calling out to a man named Albert and saying “Come out of your apartment with your hands up, unarmed.”

The appeals to “Albert” continued throughout the day while police slowly evacuated nearby apartments and residents stayed inside in fear. The CMERT team was called out to assist at the scene as was the Montgomery County Bomb Squad.

The Pottstown School District, which had been alerted to the situation by Police Chief Mark Flanders, determined which students lived in the apartment complex and along the nearby streets of Wilson, Airy and Spruce and decided to keep those students at school after dismissal until their parents could pick them up.

John Armato, director of community relations for the school district, said parents of middle school and high school age students could give permission over the phone if they wanted their children to walk home or take another means of transportation, but elementary students would have to be picked up by a parent or guardian.

Around 2 p.m., law enforcement began concentrating on one specific apartment and deployed a flashbang grenade to stun whoever was inside. The bomb squad sent a robot with a camera into the residence and shortly afterward about five or six bangs were heard coming from the apartment, but it could not be confirmed if they were gunshots or were caused by something else.

Around 5 p.m. gas canisters were thrown through the damaged sliding glass door of the first-floor apartment, but this also had no effect on the person or persons inside, according to witnesses at the scene.

Light towers were brought in as sunset approached and residents waited impatiently to learn when they could return to their apartments. Wilson Street was also shut down around 5 p.m. between Spruce and Hanover streets to control the amount of traffic traveling near the scene during rush hour.

(Updated 5:30 p.m.) POTTSTOWN — Police have closed off Wilson Street between Spruce and North Hanover streets because of police activity at the Logan Court apartments. Police have been on scene investigating shots fired at the apartment complex since 7 a.m. and reportedly are working to remove a suspect from a first-floor apartment in Building B, according to witnesses at the scene.

Several of the units in the apartment complex were evacuated throughout the day as police searched for the source of gunshots reportedly heard by two officers responding to a disturbance complaint Thursday morning.

Tactical response teams deployed gas canisters into the apartment around 5 p.m. Thursday. Earlier in the day, police used a flashbang grenade to subdue the suspect, with no visible effect. The Montgomery County Bomb Squad was called to the scene and a robot was sent inside the apartment. Shortly afterward about five or six bangs were heard from inside the apartment. It was unknown if the sounds were confirmed gunshots. Police were calling the man “Albert” and encouraging him to come out of the apartment but as of 5:35 p.m. there was no sign of the suspect by witnesses on scene.

(Updated 4:06 p.m.) POTTSTOWN – A resident of the Logan Court apartments who is on scene at the standoff reports police and CMERT have tossed gas into an apartment where it is suspected an armed man is located. Officials were not available to confirm the information Thursday afternoon, but police still had the area around the apartment complex blocked to traffic as of 4 p.m.

Mercury staff are working to confirm the identity of the suspect in this incident. Check back here for updates on this story.

(Updated 2:39 p.m.) POTTSTOWN — Because of the continuing police incident at the Logan Court apartments in the borough, the Pottstown School District has decided to hold any students living in the containment area at their respective schools once classes are dismissed.

Parents of students who are being kept at the schools will be contacted and informed of the pickup procedure, said district Director of Community Relations John Armato. Parents of high school or middle school students can verbally give their permission for their children to walk home or take other transportation; elementary students must be picked up by a parent or guardian, Armato said.

The school district said it would be sending out an automated message to all parents warning of the police activity in the area of Spruce, Diamond, Willow, Gay and Logan.

As of 2:30 p.m., police had deployed a flashbag grenade at one of the units and the Montgomery County bomb squad was called to the scene, but no suspects were in custody.

Police had been searching the apartment complex for whomever had fired a shot while police were responding to a disturbance complaint around 7 a.m. No one was injured in the shooting and no suspect has been identified by police.

Residents of the apartment building had been told to stay inside and were evacuated building by building throughout the morning and early afternoon.

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(Updated at 2:05 p.m.) POTTSTOWN — Police have just used a flash-bang device at one of the units at the Logan Court apartments in Pottstown. Details on whether a suspect has been found in relation to an early morning gunshot Thursday are unavailable at this time.

(Updated 12:19 p.m.) POTTSTOWN — Police are looking for the source of a gunshot heard at the Logan Court Apartments Thursday morning by officers responding to a disturbance complaint. According to Pottstown Police Chief Mark Flanders, responding officers were not able to locate the source of the gunshot they heard around 7 a.m.

He said police are “methodically” going through each building in the apartment complex looking for the source of gunshot, but have not yet identified any suspects.

Police have asked residents to stay in their apartments for safety reasons while the search is conducted.

Earlier reports by residents posted to The Mercury’s Facebook page about who may have fired the shots could not be confirmed with police.

Some residents of the apartment building expressed concern for their children’s safe return from school since the area is blocked off. The administrators in the Pottstown School District are currently meeting to decide how to handle this afternoon’s dismissal.

Check back here for updates on this story.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

(Updated 12:01 p.m.) POTTSTOWN — Pottstown school officials are aware of the ongoing incident at the Logan Court apartments.

John Armato, director of community relations, said district leaders are meeting right now to prepare a plan for dismissal this afternoon.

“We’re working to identify those children who might live in or near the Logan Court apartments and provide an opportunity for parents to come and pick them up, as well as to address any other concerns that may arise out of this incident,” he said.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

(Updated 11:21 a.m.) POTTSTOWN — Police are evacuating residents of the Logan Court Apartments after a responding to a report of an armed man inside Building B of the complex, according to a witness on scene.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

POTTSTOWN — Police have blocked off several streets and are asking residents of the Logan Court Apartments to remain inside after an incident reportedly involving an armed man.

According to Juli Burke, a resident of one of the apartments, a resident with a gun allegedly fired several shots out of anger earlier this morning, around 6:35 a.m. Burke said she learned of the incident when she called her landlady after police yelled at her to get back inside her apartment this morning.

“My car is still running out there,” said Burke, who had been clearing off the snow and getting ready to take her son to school then head to work when the police arrived.

Burke said she was told to return to her apartment around 8 a.m. “I was walking back to my building when I heard a man yelling at me to ‘Get inside. Get into your home.’ It’s not easy to run in heels but I got inside. I called my landlady. She said apparently there is a gentleman in the B building who is carrying on and has his gun loaded.” Burke said she was also informed that the man had shot at least one round into the maintenance man’s door.

Burke recalled K-9 officers being called out a few weeks earlier for another incident involving the same resident but didn’t know the outcome of that incident.

Police could not be reached to confirm the information Burke had received and were still on scene around 9 a.m. An officer at the Pottstown Police Department did confirm officers had been called out to Logan Street for an incident, but could not provide further details.

Burke said some streets in the area had been closed down while the incident unfolded.

She said her main concern was for her son, who was “very upset because he can’t go to school.”

“He’s 8. He understands the seriousnesss of this,” she said.

Check back here for updates on this story.

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About the Authors

Eileen Faust is a 13-year veteran of journalism and the leader of The Mercury's digital transformation. She supervises publishing to website, mobile, social media and new platforms. Reach the author at efaust@pottsmerc.com
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